Will talking about black people ever stop being called racism?

[StayTuned]

Boom, my head just exploded reading these few responses to ops post.

First off, people are claiming that calling each other white, yellow, black, red etc is racist and in the same sentence they say that calling each other german, canadian or japanese is not racist because colors put people into categories, but nations do not.

How is that, if I may ask you? Both, nationalities and skin colors, are (or rather, can be) used to categorize people. As a matter of fact, in modern business, categorizing people by nationalties is absolutely common. So if by definition categorizing people is racist, why isn't everything racist that puts people into any kind of category? Social status? Racist! Different job possitions? Racist! See what I did there?

It is entirely up to the beholders eye if something I've just said is offensive and/or racist. If people would stop being so sissy about things that might offend them, the world would become a better place.

So what if I called you black? Look into a mirror... you are black! You are just as black as I am white! There is _nothing_ wrong with it and we are still equally valuable as humans.

To me, racism begins when I start to say "I am more worth of being XYZ because I am white and you are black, inferior scum". Just saying someone is black is nothing more than pointing out the obvious

[lifeinblack]

no ones skin color is white unless they're dead, or black unless they're burned.

the thing is, the terms DO have extra baggage attached. you cant simply ignore it. if you call someone a faggot it doesnt matter that you only meant a bundle of wood.

this is true, human skin tones arent pure colours. and calling somebody a faggot is an actual insult, it is not an objective description of how somebody looks. i dont know why gay people are called faggots but ive always assumed its because sticks of wood and cigarettes are meant to be burned. thats an inherent insult. there is nothing insulting about having black skin unless you already consider it an insult. jumping through hoops to avoid saying somebody has black skin only reinforces that having black skin is considered a bad thing. it doesnt eliminate racism, it perpetuates it.

[starlord]

On topic, Racism is largely a problem of percieved versus intended offense. Person A can make a statement with innocent intentions but if person B is offended the statement is racist. If person B isn't offended, then the statement isn't. Best example is the case of the N-word. Some instances its a hateful slur, others not. All entirely dependent on the listener's point of view. Racism will be around for a while because no reasonable society has (or ever will) made it illegal to offend people. How would you even enforce that kind of thoughtcrime law? In the US we have laws that are intended to even out the effects of racism in the public sector so as to (ostensibly) even the playing field, but as long as my boss doesn't breal any laws, he's free to hate my everloving guts in the privacy of his own home. He just can't act those views out in the society at large.

Off-topic: Am I the only person bothered/puzzeled by the term Caucasian? My family hasn't lived within 2000 mile of the Caucasus Mountains since the friggin Neolithic... It's like calling asians "Fujians" or africans "Kilimanjarobites".

thats why some would argue that the concept of races itself is racist. and the term is to describe everyone west of those mountains & above africa. without tegard to skin color.

[Deleted]

so calling someone American or Canadian is racist?

IF you're attempting to refer " Black" as a race... well i didn't really think there were still people like you.

[slackjawsix]

i hate when im describing someone, il say he was a tall black guy... RACISM RACISM

[emulsion]

it would mean that i was racist. racism not being ubiquitous does not mean racism doesnt exist.

The existence of racism isn't the problem. The claim of the ubiquity of racism is why it's used in legislation and to establish McCarthyistic reviews of political officials, actors, personalities, etc.

No sane person would take the stance that racist insults are okay. The problem is the trivializing of genuinely harmful discrimination based on race by those willing to blow incidents like these out of proportion.

[Purlina]

if your skin is white then call yourself white. if its brown, call it brown. you are attaching all this extra baggage and meanings to skin colour and thats exactly what i meant in my post. its just skin colour bro. it has no meaning. its just pigmentation.

Not really how it works. Do asian people call themselves yellow? LOL

[starlord]

Boom, my head just exploded reading these few responses to ops post.

First off, people are claiming that calling each other white, yellow, black, red etc is racist and in the same sentence they say that calling each other german, canadian or japanese is not racist because colors put people into categories, but nations do not.

How is that, if I may ask you? Both, nationalities and skin colors, are (or rather, can be) used to categorize people. As a matter of fact, in modern business, categorizing people by nationalties is absolutely common. So if by definition categorizing people is racist, why isn't everything racist that puts people into any kind of category? Social status? Racist! Different job possitions? Racist! See what I did there?

It is entirely up to the beholders eye if something I've just said is offensive and/or racist. If people would stop being so sissy about things that might offend them, the world would become a better place.

So what if I called you black? Look into a mirror... you are black! You are just as black as I am white! There is _nothing_ wrong with it and we are still equally valuable as humans.

To me, racism begins when I start to say "I am more worth of being XYZ because I am white and you are black, inferior scum". Just saying someone is black is nothing more than pointing out the obvious

people who dont think the terms are racist are simply ignorant of what they're saying. a simple demonstration:

1.


2.
http://www.whitegadget.com/attachmen...th-picture.jpg

these men have fairly similar skin color. only one is "black".


Reduced the planet-sized image down to a simple link - Dacien

[Deleted]

Racism/racist has become such a buzzword and alienated from its original meaning that it's thrown around if there's a slightest hint of assigning people to some group. Get a grip.

[Urti]

That is a very large Will Smith on my screen. Wow.

[lifeinblack]

awe its too bad will smith is getting old. he was such a hottie.

[Renathras]

Calling an Asian "yellow" would get you run out of town by pitchfork and torch wielding mobs. I'm a Caucasian (read: not "white") and I find calling someone "yellow" to be incredibly insulting and racist. You pointed out your racism in your own statement "Just as I call [...] Asians yellow". Just call them Asians. You, by adding the unnecessary step of calling Asians yellow, are in fact directly pointing out the perceived color of their skin when talking about them. Again, pretty clear cut racism there.

This has always been kind of confusing to me.

Why is it okay to call people by their place of origin (ancestral) but not their skin color?


If you call someone Asian (referring to eastern Orientals), you're talking about people of a specific skin color. If you call someone African/African American, you're referring to a specific skin color. I mean, have you ever heard someone call a white South African who immigrated to the US "African American"? Even though...they kinda come from Africa?


No.

Calling someone Asian, African American, Native American, or European American are ALL effectively racist terms, because you make the assumption of their origin by the color of their skin.


I was born and raised in Texas. Some of my ancestors were European (Scottish, Irish, English [which includes some French], German, and on one ancestry line, all they way back to Gaul/Franks around 300 AD). The difference between them and me is at least 10 generations as my family line's been in America since early on.

Some of my ancestors are also Native American, and I carry a few of the traits from the tribes I'm descended from (height, ect.) And, they're closer to me than my last European ancestor - the "full blooded" Native American ancestor of mine was only five generations back.


But my skin is white unless I'm sunburned and look like a crab. So people call me white. People don't call me "Caucasion" or "European American", and even if they DID, those are equally racist terms AND leave off half of my ancestry.



So I submit to you calling a person by the place of SOME of their ancestors is equally racist.

It's politically correct. But it's just as racist. A blind man probably wouldn't call a black man "African American", now would he? Not unless he was told to by someone who could see the color of said black man's skin.



Politically correctness is the worse kind of "correctness". It lets people continue to do something bad, but feel better (and even smug as they "look down" on others) about it.


Besides, even kids know that color is one of several ways to describe things. When was the last time a kid was told he was racist by describing an apple as red? As long as he doesn't shun the apple for its redness, I don't think there's a problem. <_< People are just idiots when it comes to race, there's nothing else to it than that.

[saberon]

I blame Harry Connick Jr. He's the one that got offended by the whole White-Face thing.

[starlord]

That is a very large Will Smith on my screen. Wow.

sry i dont know how to resize

[Eduardo]

There is no such thing we can define as race. IF you say its genetic variation - there is greater genetic variation between you and your neighbor then between you and a family from Africa.

[starlord]

which woman looks yellow to you?

[Pfeff]

I'm so over racism. It's 2012, nobody cares anymore about skin color and the ones that do will die off soon enough. It drives me nuts when someone says "hey you know [insert name]?" and I say, oh yea that black guy right? Then get weird looks...I would say the same if he was asian, mexican, whatever. Just because you describe someone doesn't mean it's derogatory. If someone referred to me as the white dude I wouldn't care one bit

[Melpo]

At a genetic level, there is really not difference between a man with blue eyes and one with brown, a man with black hair or blonde, a man with hair and a bald one, a man with white skin and one with darker skin, etc. True, we've evolved a bit differently, but the fact remains... we are all part of the one race - the human one.

That said, we can point out differences in looks. It's not an ethnic slur to note that someone is dark-skinned, has different shaped eyes, being bald, having blue eyes or green eyes. It kind of works both ways. Some People are too damn sensitive and some people seem to place too much importance on genetic variation. We should all look beyond that and recognize each other as genetically different, but equal men, and not place so much emphasis on the difference and rather place significance on the things we share in common.

This is why I love Morgan Freeman to bits. He sums it up quite well here:

[StayTuned]

sry i dont know how to resize

upload and use resizing features offered by uploader

http://de.tinypic.com/ for example. You are welcome


btt: Oh comon, stop playing the "ignorant" card. Yes, only Will is "black". But speaking of skin color, both men have nearly the same. While not being from the same race, they still have a black colored face (black is not a color, I know). Again, there is nothing wrong with it.
Barack Obama is another example. He is not "black", but his skin color still is.

It is like saying Angela Merkel is not white, but just a person with white pigments. Comon.... this isnt 1900

[Catta]

If im watching some football and i wanna make someone attentive of a player who is black i say, look at number XX - if that doesnt work i just say the black one... It has nothing to do with race but outward appearence... Just like if i see a really fat asian for instance, i dont say look at that asian person... I say: look at that fat person... obviously im hypothetical right now, but my point is that i call attention to the thing that makes them stand out of the crowd

I dont know where someone is from... Why should i call someone African American... He's just american with black skin... Hell he might not even be american... He could be french and be offended for being called African American...